A week after an armed robber shot and killed one worker and wounded another at R&R Garage, on Fireweed Lane, bouquets from sympathetic customers and neighbors lined the garage's front office Wednesday. An adjacent office is where a robbery attempt erupted into gunfire, said Pat Riffle, the shop's owner.
The robber killed Michael Curry and wounded Alfredo "Freddy" Esteban on April 18. Police have not named a suspect in the shootings or announced any arrests.
An employee told Riffle a white man wearing a mask came in the front door of the shop sometime before 6 p.m. Police say the man was slim, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds and wore blue jeans, a short-sleeved white T-shirt, white shoes and a black beanie. He carried a backpack, police said.
The man pointed a gun at Curry and ordered the 43-year-old service manager, Riffle's second in command for a half-dozen years, to close the blinds and give him cash, Riffle said.
"You know, we don't have any money around here," Riffle said Wednesday afternoon between calls and charging a customer's bill to her credit card. "Everything's on credit card," he said, then pointed to the cash register. "He took what little was in there, basically change is all it was."
Esteban, a 23-year-old mechanic, said the man spoke with an accent. Police have alternatively described it as Eastern and Western European. The man demanded Curry open a safe in Riffle's office in which Riffle said he keeps important papers but no money.
"That's where he shot Michael and tried to shoot Freddy, but Freddy got away," Riffle said. "Michael tried to oblige him, but he didn't give him a chance."
Riffle said there was no reason the man would've wanted to rob Curry or Esteban themselves.
Riffle said the man put three bullets in Esteban, who survived. Curry was shot once and died in the office. The man shot at least twice more inside the garage, where police found two 9mm shell casings, Riffle said.
Police say the suspect ran south on Blueberry Street and drove away in a dark-colored SUV. Patrol cruisers swarmed the garage while officers set up a perimeter and a police dog sniffed the scene, with no luck picking up the suspect's trail, a police spokesman said.
Crime scene investigators and detectives took over the investigation that night. R&R Garage reopened the next morning, short staffed by Curry's death, Esteban's injuries and the absence of another mechanic who was too traumatized from bullets whizzing past him to return to work. The mechanic was still out Wednesday.
"The customers have been very supportive," said Riffle, the garage's owner of 22 years. "But it's also one of the busiest times of the year, and we're shorthanded and we're slammed."
It's time for drivers to have their winter tires taken off, so customers needing tire changeovers have inundated the garage, Riffle explained. "I'm covering for Michael. Another Michael isn't going to walk through that door."
The name "Michael Curry -- service manager," is printed below "Pat Riffle -- owner," on business cards at the garage.
"You couldn't have asked for any more. He was honest, here all the time. He just about ran the whole franchise," Riffle said.
Curry was married and had two grown children from a previous marriage, Riffle said. He was cremated and will be memorialized in a family-only gathering Thursday. Riffle said the garage would have some sort of celebration of life for Curry in the near future.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
Anchorage Daily News